App Store Accountability Act

The App Store Accountability Act requires app store providers and app developers to verify user ages and obtain parental consent before minors download apps or make purchases. It establishes obligations for both parties, enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission and states, a safe harbor for compliant developers, and preempts state laws on the same subject. The Act takes effect one year after enactment.

Sec. 2, Definitions: Defines key terms including age categories (adult, teenager, child, young child), age category data, age rating, app, app developer, app store, covered app store provider (with over 5 million U.S. users), minor, parental account, parental consent disclosure, personal data, signal, significant change, and verifiable parental consent.

Sec. 3, App store obligations: Covered app store providers must request and verify age when accounts are created, require minors' accounts to be linked to a parental account and obtain verifiable parental consent for downloads or purchases, notify users and parents of significant changes, provide age category and consent status to app developers, protect age verification data, display age ratings clearly, and give developers real-time access to user age and consent status.

Sec. 4, App developer obligations: App developers must verify user age and parental consent through the app store, notify the store of significant changes, request age data or consent at download or when changes occur, use age data only for age restrictions, compliance, and features, and cannot enforce contracts against minors without consent, misrepresent information, or share age data with unaffiliated third parties. Developers must use the app store's signal to determine age.

Sec. 5, Compliance: The Federal Trade Commission must issue guidance within one year, establish a mechanism for app store providers to request compliance certification (valid for one year), and create a complaint system for violations of section 3.

Sec. 6, Enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission: Violations are treated as unfair or deceptive acts under the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Commission enforces the Act with the same powers and penalties as that Act.

Sec. 7, Enforcement by States: State attorneys general may bring civil actions on behalf of residents for violations, with notice to the Commission, and the Commission may intervene. No state action may proceed if the Commission has already filed an action for the same violation.

Sec. 8, Safe harbor: An app developer is not liable under this Act if it relied in good faith on age data from the app store, complied with section 4, and reasonably followed industry or Commission standards for age ratings and content descriptions.

Sec. 9, Preemption: No state or local government may maintain laws related to this Act's provisions, but contract and tort law are not preempted.

Sec. 10, Severability: If any provision is invalid, the rest of the Act remains in effect.

Sec. 11, Effective date: The Act takes effect one year after enactment.